1. Norman Joseph Wisdom was born to a chauffeur and a dressmaker in Marylebone, London, on 4 February 1915. He spent time in a children’s home aged nine when his parents split up.

2. He ran away, and went on to become an errand boy, before walking and hitching to Cardiff to become a cabin boy in the Merchant Navy. He later joined the Army, honing his talent for entertaining, and learning to play 11 instruments.

3. He was a champion boxer during his time in the Army, his 5ft 4in frame seeing him fight at flyweight. Wisdom had previously boxed during his sailing days, winning a bout in Buenos Aires, Argentina, against a man twice his weight – only for the crew who had put him up to it to spend his prize money.

4. During World War II he worked in communications, connecting telephone calls to Winston Churchill.

5. Wisdom got his showbiz break in Islington, London, in 1945, performing as The Successful Failure. It would be typical of the clown character which would become his trademark, most famously as Norman Pitkin, otherwise known as The Gump, with an act based on slapstick. Charlie Chaplin was a fan, telling him in 1950: “You will follow in my footsteps.”

6. Wisdom made his film debut three years later and went on to star in 19 films. He earned a best-supporting actor Oscar nomination for The Night They Raided Minsky’s in 1968. He made his last film the following year.

7. Communist Albania banned all films from the West – except Norman Wisdom’s, turning him into a cult figure.

8. Wisdom’s TV credits include four series of A Little Bit Of Wisdom, before displaying his straight acting talents in 1981 BBC play Going Gently, about a dying cancer patient. In later years he was a regular in Last of the Summer Wine.

9. He formed a friendship with musician Rick Wakeman, with the pair releasing an album entitled A World of Wisdom in 1991.

10. He was married twice, a short marriage to Doreen after a war-time romance, followed by a 22 year union with Freda Simpson, with whom he had a son and a daughter. He had lived on the Isle of Man since 1980.